This SF novel missed the mark for me, despite a fun set-up: a group of friends explore an old spaceship with a crew that had mysteriously disappeared twenty years earlier, and the ship is accidentally launched for a distant planet. Despite the characters being in their late twenties, this had a very strong YA vibe to it, and a young YA at that, which was part of why it didn't work for me. I actually had to flip back and double check the ages because it was so incongruous. This is a very dialogue-heavy book, and I felt like the characters' depth suffered because of it, not to mention that the romance didn't play at all when the reader never got to see the romance actually develop. When you have a human-hologram romance, you need to really develop to make it believable in any way. Add in a lot of science-y passages contrasted with an utter disregard for science when something was needed for plot purposes, and I just struggled my way through this one. Thank you to NetGalley, Avon, and Harper Voyager for a digital review copy.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was marketed as a spacemance aka space romance which was the “lesser known cousin of romantasy” so I was led to believe this was a sci fi romance but as I read this book, it was giving more sci fi conspiracy mystery.

The romance felt lacking like I feel the relationship was carried through banter which felt surface level as well. this was disappointing especially when i was excited for the sapphic romance.

also some plot holes were bothering me like the plot hole where a group of people (202 of them) which was essentially the next generation disappeared and no noise???? the book made it sound like this major newsworthy occurrence was just a footnote in history where people just grieved and move on like what?? no one questioned further about what happened. I felt like this moment was glossed over so quickly even though its such an important aspect in the story. I’m probably reading too much into it but it felt like the book did not emphasize or set the tone of this crazy moment correctly

The format of this book was so confusing and all over the place which took away from my enjoyment of the story. <b> there’s so much going on in this book but nothing was hooking me in </b> . . . the only reason I kept going was for the romance but even the romance felt forced to me and oddly juvenile even though the two characters are adults.

This one was a pretty mixed bag for me. There were things I enjoyed (the mystery kept me reading, some very funny lines, likable characters). And some plot elements that I didn’t love for subjective, taste reasons (super powers and “space magic” are not favorite tropes of mine).

But for me there were some authorial choices that just didn’t work, and these choices over time made the book completely fall apart by the end. My main quibble is that the book had a bit of an identity crisis. Other than the main characters’ ages (mid-late 20s) this really felt like a YA novel. I wish it had been--I think it would’ve been much more successful. Every relationship—from the friendship between the four main characters, to the romance, even to the brief mentions of parental relationships—felt very young and didn’t have the qualities of adult relationships. The romance especially felt like a first relationship between teenagers. Some of the plot turns also felt very YA (see: space magic). The villain’s motives were muddy and he was too much a generic super villain to be satisfying. The MC’s emotional growth entailed learning “it’s okay to talk about my feelings,” which again would make a lot more sense in a 15 year old. As an adult novel, it didn’t feel successful to me. The Illuminae Files is a YA series that nailed the space opera/romance I think this book was going for.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Voyager for providing an advanced copy.

This book was super cute and fast paced. A sci-fi book set in space, a group of four friends tries to solve the mystery of a failed launch of a spaceship to another planet 20 years prior that started and ended with the crew of 203 people vanishing into thin air.

Set over the course of roughly 60 (ish days), this is a fast paced read filled with friendship, love, and learning to face your fears and trauma.

There wasn't much meat to the book, but I enjoyed it, hence the 4 stars.

Thanks to Harper Voyager and Netgalley for an e-arc of this book!

I adored literally everything about this. I am a huge Trekkie and also a huge Star Trek Voyager fan and a queer woman, so it did feel like this book might have been made in a lab for me! As soon as the hologram appeared, I was like... LIKE VOYAGER... and then there were Voyager references, and Hamilton thanked Voyager in her acknowledgments, and I was just screaming!!!

Plot-wise, this is super interesting because it is only about 50 years in the future and, as such, deals with many incredibly relevant things to humans on Earth right now, like climate change and capitalism. It also felt grounded in the real world (ya know, minus the aliens, other planets, and superpowers), making it incredibly easy to get into and engage with. I found the story progression really fantastic, and it was such an easy and quick read because I was having so much fun! There are many twists and turns happening, which I mostly did not see coming, especially the big one, because I was so embedded in the story and our characters.

I loved our cast of characters, particularly our MC, Cleo, and found their emotions relatable and actions understandable. Cleo was a really fantastic character because of her "hero's journey" here, and I felt like her growth and emotional development were super well-earned.

Oh, Billie! I love you! Billie, both Holo and real, were so fun, and I really appreciated how their (hers? not sure how to say this) romance with Cleo played out, as well as the major twist of the voice of God narrator in this book, were super interesting. Her emotional growth was a particular highlight of the book and I loved her internal monologue when we got it.

Community was such an important part of this book: how we find community, how we care for our community, how we grow our community, how we protect our community, and more. It's such an important topic, and science fiction is one of the best places for that to play out in fiction, to me, so this book was such a joy, as our characters return to Earth with a hope they never had before.

I will absolutely be buying a copy of this when it comes out!

Giving this one a 4 out of 5. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Reading this book was an interesting experience, but in a (mostly) good way. The characters are more or less all in their mid-20s with advanced degrees in STEM, but in a lot of ways this story reads like a YA Sci-Fi. They have that quirky, cozy, queer friend-group vibe that is a delight to read. Very space opera-esque but still light and overall fluffy, where the stakes in theory should be high but at the end of the day aren't.

My main qualm is with Cleo and her romance with Billie. There is a lot of handwave-y aspects of the age difference between the two, but with the time skips that happen in the story, I just didn't find their romance believable. I wish we could've read more of their interactions that allow us to build up to their relationship. Despite this, there are some HEARTWRENCHING scenes between the two that pulled at my heartstrings.

Overall fun little read.

A fantastic debut! I am so impressed that this is a debut, really!

I thought the sci-fi elements were accessible to follow, even if you're not a seasoned sci-fi/fantasy reader. I loved the sapphic romance, and would have liked even more tense moments between them.

I loved this sci-fi space opera, and I will absolutely be reading more from Emily Hamilton in the future.

This is a book that is objectively pretty great – maybe even awesome – but isn’t quite for me.

I can’t point to anything being wrong with it, or done poorly; I pushed myself halfway through the book (instead of quitting at 20%, my typical cut-off point) because it is actually good. The writing and characters are all great. There’s no solid reason to DNF it.

I just…didn’t care. And that’s having read the three major revelations/twists in the first half, which turn The Stars Too Fondly into something VERY different from what I was expecting – and not a bad something! It’s very cool! I like being taken by surprise! The stakes become infinitely higher, and a whole host of new possibilities open up, making it (at least for me) impossible to predict where the story was going to go!

Lots of awesome, in other words!

But something was missing; I wasn’t connecting to any of the characters, I wasn’t invested in the plot, and even though I can see that objectively Revelation the Third is really exciting and unique and I have no idea what direction Hamilton’s going to take it in…I don’t care. I’m not interested, even though I really should be. This should tick so many boxes for me; I ought to be so excited by the worldbuilding and what Hamilton is going to do with it. And I’m just not.

I don’t know why. I do think the problem is probably me, not the book; I would happily recommend The Stars Too Fondly to a whole bunch of my friends, and I think many readers of my blog will love it. Hells, maybe I’LL love it, if I try again in a year or something; maybe I’m just in the wrong headspace right now, and I would love it if I read it at a different time. I hope so.

But at this time it’s a slog to get through, and I’m bored, and I’m tired. So. Call it a DNF-for-now, not a DNF-forever. I’ll cross my fingers. If it sounds interesting to you, I strongly encourage you to pick up a copy. But I’m putting mine aside.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Voyager for the e-arc!
What an absolutely stunning sci-fi romance! Hamilton managed to weave a complex but easy-to-understand sci-fi with dark matter and crazy powers while still having an unbelievably tender and emotional romantic story. The general premise being four friends accidentally being launched into space where they discover a holographic version of Captain Lucas, the missing captain of the original expiration. As they continue on their journey through space and time, they learn more about why the original crew went missing and what secrets were being kept from the entire world about this journey.
Cleo and Billie's relationship is beautiful. It isn't perfect and they have to work to understand and accept each other and their circumstances. The entire cast of characters is put in this terrible situation, and they all have to work together to survive and help the lost crew. I think some of the fights/conflicts between some characters are done a bit too quickly. There were a few cases where characters would go from screaming and fighting with each other to immediately recognizing their issue and apologizing but I still thoroughly enjoyed the book.
Overall I could not put this down and highly recommend this if you are looking for a great sapphic romance!

3.5 stars!

Thank you to Emily Hamilton and Harper Voyager from this ARC in exchange for my full, honest review!

Admittedly, I have very mixed feelings about this one. I requested this ARC because the premise made it seem like a sapphic version of The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer which I absolutely loved, and they are similar but not in the way that I was anticipating. Reading The Darkness Outside Us, I agreed with many reviewers that I thought it was mismarketed as a romance when the story really ends up feeling more like a conspiracy thriller with a romance subplot. The Stars Too Fondly is definitely more light-hearted than The Darkness Outside Us, but the mystery plotline is extremely prominent to the story. Just thought I'd note this so you know what you're getting into, especially if you're picking this up for the same reason I did.

First, let's look at the positives. The premise of the story is super interesting and generally well done, especially considering it's a debut. I liked the characters a lot and their development throughout the story felt pretty natural, including that of the antagonist. All of the transcripts and text conversations were a great addition and I liked how small aspects of the mystery were revealed through them. This is also a profoundly readable book, being entertaining as well as concise. I read pretty quickly, but I finished this one especially fast and it was a nice book to fall back on during exams. The story's message about the price of progress and ambition was well done if a bit heavy-handed. There are also some truly gorgeous lines in here, I highlighted quite a few.

Now for my issues. The dialog was so quippy that it feels forced at times, and the dialog is really the only thing contributing to comedy half of the rom-com so that whole aspect was pretty lost on me. The romance was fine but I feel like we didn't see enough direct interactions between Cleo and Billie for them to feel as strongly as they did. There are so many (necessary) time cuts that it feels like the reader is left to assume they were bonding more off-page. Other than those nice lines I mentioned earlier, the writing can be really juvenile at times. I'm not intensely against starting sentences with "And–" or "But–" but there are paragraphs here were every single line starts with that. If it weren't for the age of the characters and (fairly brief) sex scenes, I would have thought this was a YA novel, because the writing feels that way. Also, if you're looking for sci-fi with realistic or at least well-explained science, this isn't for you. Most weird things in the book, including superpowers, are just chalked up to dark matter without a lot of elaboration.

If you like YA sci-fi I think you'll like this, but I've heard it referred to as Becky Chambers meets Red, White & Royal Blue and that did not prove true for me at all. It's quite short and easy to read, so if it sounds up your alley giving it a shot won't be a waste of your time. It was just lacking in a lot of the areas where I was hoping for it to excel.

Happy reading!

“I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.”

The Stars Too Fondly is a queer, cozy sci-fi adventure. It follows Cleo and her group of loyal friends who investigate the remains of a spaceship that never took off and whose crew mysteriously vanished. When they are launched into space, they must solve the mystery of what happened to the crew before them. Along the way, Cleo befriends the ship’s AI and the crew must rally together if they ever want to return home.

The Stars Too Fondly has such a lovable and engaging crew. It feels like a more adult, queer, and cozy version of The Aurora Cycle. Cleo is such a strong and curious character, who is unstoppable once she sets her mind to it. Cleo’s relationship with Billie is very sweet and the ending was satisfying. While it has a cozy feel to it, the discussion of space and physics is fascinating and will inspire readers to wonder. The Stars Too Fondly is an excellent sci-fi adventure, with compelling queer characters, and I’d recommend it to anyone. Looking forward to seeing what Emily Hamilton writes next!

Thank you to Emily Hamilton, Harper Voyager, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Instagram, Storygraph, Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc.

I adored this book. The science, the found family, the relationship between Billie and Cleo— it was absolute perfection. It drew such emotion from me that at one point this book had me crying in my car on my lunch break. I struggled a bit with the whole “love is the greatest force in the universe” bit (okay, so I’m a cynic), and the end was a little rushed (the pacing from the first 80% to the last 20% was just so wildly different), but honestly that’s it. The character depth and feeling behind the book is so profound. I cannot recommend this enough. I may have already read it, but I think I’m going to preorder it, too. It was the perfect combination of sci-fi and fantasy.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.

Holy moly was this a rollicking space opera. A journey filled with romantic yearning and believable sci-fi pedigree. So many unique and utterly awe inspiring ideas are brought to life in this story of otherworld mystery and romance. Definitely top five of the year so far.

Thank you to Avon and Harper Voyager | Harper Voyager, and NetGalley for providing an eARC for an honest review.

Twenty years ago a spaceship failed to take off and all members on board disappeared. Now abandoned, the spaceship sits, taunting Cleo with its mystery. When Cleo and her three friends decide to sneak onboard to see if clues can be found, the unimaginable happens- the ship takes off for its original destination - Proxima Centauri - and the original captain, Billie, who disappeared is back as a hologram.

Confused and angry, Cleo and her friends set out to find a way back to earth, as Billie is desperate to figure out what happened to the crew, and herself. As mysteries unfold Cleo and Billie are drawn together and into a relationship that can't exist. Time is running out and Cleo and Billie both have difficult choices to make.

Space adventure, mystery and Sapphic romance are all rolled into one delightful ride in this debut scifimysteryromance.

I like how, at the beginning, the story goes back and forth, filling us with needed information and after that the narrator interrupts the story now and then. I was sooo curious about who they were. And the revelation did not disappoint.
I love the way the relationship between Cleo and Billie developed. I fell in love with them, with their relationship. And they made me cry a lot. AND THE LONGING !!!!!!!!
I did feel like the end was a little rushed but I dont really mind.
It was a lovely found family trope with a little bit of magic powers and an amazing couple. And it was quite cinematographic.

I just read this is your debut novel and damn girl, you're really good at this.

Some thoughts I had while reading:
It felt unrealistic to leave a piece of technology like the engine of the airship without any security.

I LOVE the idea of the replicator. When I was little I saw this one scene in Spy Kids where they "printed" a burger in a microwave and I spent sooo much time wanting one of those machines to exist.

I really don't like when social media is included in books. It was mentioned one time but still. It makes it more realistic (I read books to avoid reality) wich in this case doesn't make much sense since this is a sci-fi book about the universe and dark matter (even though it does follows real events like the Cold War). It's a personal preference but it doesn't actually add anything to the story.

Who doesn’t love a good space opera? What is especially enjoyable is when said space opera doesn’t take itself too seriously. The Stars Too Fondly has a fun cast of diverse characters, an interesting premise, some mystery, drama, romance, and a little peril to round it out.

While the book was a very quick read, some elements were a bit unbelievable, the characters seemed very young for their genius and the story wrapped up way too quickly to be satisfying. This would be popular with fans of space opera and new adult readers. Those looking for believable sci-fi might be annoyed by the squiffy technical details.

Not without its flaws but a fun story overall. Also, the cover is gorgeous. 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Avon/Harper Voyager and NetGalley for an advance copy of this novel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion.
QUEER ROMANCE. IN SPACE. ROMANTASY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The number of times I silent screamed while reading this cannot even be counted on one hand. This novel is so, so, SO funny and heartfelt. I've honestly never read anything like this before but I hope I get to read so much more from this author! You will not regret reading this beautiful story that has so much depth and loveable characters!!

The Stars Too Fondly by Emily Hamilton drew me in with a combination of a stellar cover and premise and kept me reading with its excellent pacing. While the tone and behavior of the characters often led the text to read with a more young-adult vibe that may have been just what I needed to jump-start me back into reading my arcs after a bit of a slump. This was a great time and I recommend it for fans of works such as An Ocean of Stars by Becca Minos.

I had high hopes for this book so maybe that was the first problem.

The problems mostly boil down to one for me: it reads like YA. Despite all the characters being 27 and older, the writing, their actions, all felt more believable for 16 year olds than for cynical 27 year olds with PhDs that they are supposed to be. I personally just don't like the tone of YA (which I don't penalize for as that is 100% a personal preference), but I just can't get over it to actually enjoy this book.

If all the ages had been dropped to say 17 and 18, and marketed properly as YA/NA, it wouldn't be a problem. It would be what it says on the tin. As it stands though I think there will be others like me who aren't super into it and it will miss the audience that would really like it. There is a lot here to like (diverse casting, a unique plot line, turns and twists aplenty), but it won't mean much if it's not given to the right people.

First off, I would say that this book has way more romance than your average science fiction. Not a bad thing, but be prepared that there is a lot of mooning and less actual moons. Also, this read pretty young to me. Like a teen book. Thought the characters are in their late twenties, they act much younger/immature.
The cast of characters is nicely diverse and have plausible personalities. I would have liked a little more in that department, but the majority of the book focuses on Cleo and Billie. It has a good mystery component but I also would have loved there to be more about the alien planet and their day to day.
I think hologram Billie and IRL Billie was an interesting concept, but I couldn't reconcile the two. Probably best not to overthink that.
#NetGalley